Dustin Poirier (12-1-0) vs Chan Sung Jung (12-3-0) Chan Sung Jung (aka The Korean Zombie) has quickly risen to the top of the list of MMA fan favorites. His attacking style lends itself to exciting.
Dustin Poirier (12-1-0) vs Chan Sung Jung (12-3-0)
Chan Sung Jung (aka The Korean Zombie) has quickly risen to the top of the list of MMA fan favorites. His attacking style lends itself to exciting fights and the finishes fans have come to expect from the sport. Beginning with his fights in Korea and Japan, global MMA fans watched him ascend from obscurity to mainstream popularity in just two years and he is now established as a headliner on a card that also features a former Ultimate Fighter winner in Amir Sadollah and one of the best 155 pound fighters in the world in Donald Cerrone. The question with Jung is whether his popularity has outpaced his skill level. The oddsmakers have Poirier as a solid favorite at -321 and any reasonable observer would have to agree that the line is right where it should be. But this is where one begins to run into problems when trying to breakdown an enigma like Jung.
Since he has come to the United States, he has engaged in one of the greatest fights in MMA history with Leonard Garcia, lost to George Roop via spectacular head kick knockout, beat Leonard Garcia and earned submission of the year with the first ever Twister in the UFC and knocked out Mark Hominick in seven seconds on his first punch of the night. Presented with just that information, one would wonder why he isn’t favored in this fight. The problem is that the reality of what took place in those fights is less exciting than the myth of the Korean Zombie. Leonard Garcia is one of the toughest, most entertaining fighters in the world at any weight class. He would fight Godzilla if someone would sanction it. And even if the scouting report said Godzilla had no ground game, Garcia would stand and throw haymakers until he got eaten. But he’s a mid-level opponent and beating him twice (which Jung did regardless of what the judges claimed to have seen in the first fight) doesn’t put a fighter in the upper echelon. The fight with Mark Hominick is even more misleading. What kind of conclusions can be drawn from a seven second fight? If Jung and Hominick were to fight 1000 times, how many times does the fight end that way? As exciting as it was, we didn’t learn anything from that fight. Add in the fact that George Roop clearly outstruck him in and knocked him out early in the second round and things get even more confusing. Who is Chan Sung Jung? Is he a mid level fighter with a knack for entertaining the fans or is he an upper echelon fighter who’s knockout of Hominick is a precursor of things to come? This fight should bring us closer to answering that question.
Dustin Poirier is one of the best young prospects in the 145 pound weight class. He has future title contender potential and this is his first opportunity to take a major step forward in marketability. He has the skills in every area to be great. Since coming to the UFC, he has improved with every fight. He beat the highly regarded Josh Grispi via unanimous decision, performed the same feat against Jason Young, submitted Pablo Garza via brabo choke and submitted Max Holloway via mounted triangle armbar. In his first two fights in the UFC, he controlled his opponents and clearly won the fights but his last two fights have been even more impressive with finishes that show his submission game is evolving rapidly. He clearly outclassed Garza in every aspect of the fight and when Garza failed to recognize the choke attempt in the second round, Poirier finished him quickly. He showed continued growth in the Holloway fight as he once again dominated and showed high level ground transitions in moving from an armbar to a triangle to a mounted triangle to a mounted triangle armbar. Holloway did not submit easily but Poirier would not be denied and once again, proved himself to be a level above his opponent.
This fight gives both fighters the opportunity they need. If Jung wins this fight, he will have to be considered as one of the top fighters in the weight class and might earn a title shot depending on what happens with the rest of the division. Hominick just fought for the title and Poirier is widely considered to be a top ten talent so back to back wins over those two might be enough to get what no one else at 145 seems to want, which is a title fight with Jose Aldo. Poirier likely has the same opportunity. Although his hit list would be less impressive than Jung’s, he has title level talent and if no one else is willing to fight Aldo, he could get his chance earlier than expected.
The line on this fight at the time of writing this article has Poirier favored at -321 with Jung the underdog at +279. That seems about right as Poirier clearly has the pedigree and talent advantage. But nobody thought Jung had a chance against Hominick and that fight ended with one punch. I expect Poirier to control the fight and win a unanimous decision but Jung has a habit of making measurables like pedigree and talent irrelevant. Can he do it again? We’ll find out on Tuesday night.
UFC on FUEL TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier goes down tomorrow night at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia, and the weigh-ins are scheduled for today at 4 p.m. ET. You can watch the hot feet-on-scale action in the player above. Though we don’t foresee any hat-smacking or face-squishing, Tom Lawlor did promise to arrive with the most obscure MMA reference in UFC weigh-in history, so there’s that. The full UFC on FUEL 3 fight card is after the jump, which we’ll update with weigh-in totals later today. Come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow evening for our liveblog of the FUEL main card broadcast, which kicks off at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
UFC on FUEL TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier goes down tomorrow night at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia, and the weigh-ins are scheduled for today at 4 p.m. ET. You can watch the hot feet-on-scale action in the player above. Though we don’t foresee any hat-smacking or face-squishing, Tom Lawlor did promise to arrive with the most obscure MMA reference in UFC weigh-in history, so there’s that. The full UFC on FUEL 3 fight card is after the jump, which we’ll update with weigh-in totals later today. Come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow evening for our liveblog of the FUEL main card broadcast, which kicks off at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
MAIN CARD (FUEL TV)
Chan Sung Jung () vs. Dustin Poirier ()
Amir Sadollah () vs. Jorge Lopez ()
Donald Cerrone () vs. Jeremy Stephens ()
Yves Jabouin () vs. Jeff Hougland ()
Igor Pokrajac () vs. Fabio Maldonado ()
Jason MacDonald () vs. Tom Lawlor ()
PRELIMINARY CARD (Fuel.tv, 5:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. PT)
Cody McKenzie () vs. Marcus LeVesseur ()
Brad Tavares () vs. Dongi Yang ()
T.J. Grant () vs. Carlo Prater ()
Rafael Dos Anjos () vs. Kamal Shalorus ()
Jeff Curran () vs. Johnny Eduardo ()
Alex Soto () vs. Francisco Rivera ()
In honor of Chan Sung Jung‘s upcoming fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC on FUEL 3 on Tuesday, TrauMMA Combat Apparel has released a brand-new “Korean Zombie” t-shirt that you can buy right here for $29.99. But we know that thirty bucks is hard to come by in this economy, so how ’bout we give you a chance to win one for free?
You know how this works: Submit your prediction for the Zombie vs. Poirier main event in the comments section below by Monday night at midnight ET, including the winner, method of victory, and time/round of stoppage (if applicable). No need to include judges’ scores if you’re predicting a decision, but for the purposes of a tie-breaker, please include which end-of-night bonus you think the fight will win, if you think it’ll be bonus-worthy. Your entry should look like this…
Jung def. Poirier via split-decision [Fight of the Night] or Poirier def. Jung via submission (triangle choke), 3:54 of round 2 [Submission of the Night] or Jung def. Poirier via TKO, 1:59 of round 3 [no bonus]
In honor of Chan Sung Jung‘s upcoming fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC on FUEL 3 on Tuesday, TrauMMA Combat Apparel has released a brand-new “Korean Zombie” t-shirt that you can buy right here for $29.99. But we know that thirty bucks is hard to come by in this economy, so how ’bout we give you a chance to win one for free?
You know how this works: Submit your prediction for the Zombie vs. Poirier main event in the comments section below by Monday night at midnight ET, including the winner, method of victory, and time/round of stoppage (if applicable). No need to include judges’ scores if you’re predicting a decision, but for the purposes of a tie-breaker, please include which end-of-night bonus you think the fight will win, if you think it’ll be bonus-worthy. Your entry should look like this…
Jung def. Poirier via split-decision [Fight of the Night] or Poirier def. Jung via submission (triangle choke), 3:54 of round 2 [Submission of the Night] or Jung def. Poirier via TKO, 1:59 of round 3 [no bonus]
And there’s just one more twist…
The two closest guesses will win shirts. If you predict a victory for the Korean Zombie and you’re one of the winners, you’ll be getting TrauMMA’s Korean Zombie tee. If you predict a victory for Dustin Poirier and he wins, you’ll be getting No Mas’s super-rad Fightville tee.
…and if you correctly predict a draw, you’ll win both shirts. Make sense? Holler if you have any questions, and happy pickin’.
After the WEC merged with the UFC in early 2011, most MMA fans were quick to write off the competitors in its lightweight division, claiming that they would simply be outmatched by their UFC counterparts. The success of current lightweight champ Ben Henderson, along with that of guys like Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis quickly disproved this notion, but one fighter who has gone almost completely unnoticed at 155 has been that of Danny Castillo. The Team Alpha Male standout’s record currently stands at 3-1 in the UFC, including a win over former number one contender Joe Stevenson in his promotional debut. On the heels of a split decision victory over noted striker Anthony Njokuani at UFC 141 in December, Castillo will be looking to build on his current two-fight win streak against Strikeforce veteran and submission savant John Cholish on the preliminary card of next weekend’s UFC on FOX 3 event. We were recently able to snag an interview with “Last Call,” who dished on everything from TRT to his stance on teammates fighting teammates. Enjoy, and make sure to follow Danny and all his Alpha Male cohorts on Twitter.
CAGEPOTATO.COM: Thanks for interview opportunity, Danny. I was wondering if we could first talk about your UFC 141 victory over Anthony Njokuani. How would you assess your performance in that fight?
Danny Castillo: “I would rate my performance about a D+. It wasn’t the best fight of my career. I was able to get a victory on four weeks of training, and I had just fought prior to that in November against Shamar Bailey. I pretty much went in there with the gameplan to wrestle the whole time; I knew that that was one of the flaws in [Njokuani’s] game. He’s a dangerous fighter. He was one of the most exciting fighters in the WEC, and he’s probably one of the top five strikers inside the UFC. On four weeks notice, I wasn’t prepared to necessarily stand with him or to sit in the pocket against his strengths. His ground game was greatly improved, and now that I’ve done some training with him I understand why; he’s got a phenomenal Jiu-Jitsu coach in Sergio Penha. As far as I’m concerned, I think I won the first and the third round. I probably had about six takedowns throughout the fight, and I think I did enough to win the fight.”
Follow us after the jump for Castillo’s thoughts on the TRT debate, the possibility of fighting a teammate, and more.
After the WEC merged with the UFC in early 2011, most MMA fans were quick to write off the competitors in its lightweight division, claiming that they would simply be outmatched by their UFC counterparts. The success of current lightweight champ Ben Henderson, along with that of guys like Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis quickly disproved this notion, but one fighter who has gone almost completely unnoticed at 155 has been that of Danny Castillo. The Team Alpha Male standout’s record currently stands at 3-1 in the UFC, including a win over former number one contender Joe Stevenson in his promotional debut. On the heels of a split decision victory over noted striker Anthony Njokuani at UFC 141 in December, Castillo will be looking to build on his current two-fight win streak against Strikeforce veteran and submission savant John Cholish on the preliminary card of next weekend’s UFC on FOX 3 event. We were recently able to snag an interview with “Last Call,” who dished on everything from TRT to his stance on teammates fighting teammates. Enjoy, and make sure to follow Danny and all his Alpha Male cohorts on Twitter.
CAGEPOTATO.COM: Thanks for interview opportunity, Danny. I was wondering if we could first talk about your UFC 141 victory over Anthony Njokuani. How would you assess your performance in that fight?
Danny Castillo: “I would rate my performance about a D+. It wasn’t the best fight of my career. I was able to get a victory on four weeks of training, and I had just fought prior to that in November against Shamar Bailey. I pretty much went in there with the gameplan to wrestle the whole time; I knew that that was one of the flaws in [Njokuani’s] game. He’s a dangerous fighter. He was one of the most exciting fighters in the WEC, and he’s probably one of the top five strikers inside the UFC. On four weeks notice, I wasn’t prepared to necessarily stand with him or to sit in the pocket against his strengths. His ground game was greatly improved, and now that I’ve done some training with him I understand why; he’s got a phenomenal Jiu-Jitsu coach in Sergio Penha. As far as I’m concerned, I think I won the first and the third round. I probably had about six takedowns throughout the fight, and I think I did enough to win the fight.”
Let’s move on to your upcoming fight with John Cholish at UFC on Fox 3. Do you see yourself as the underdog coming into this fight, and if so, are you the type of fighter who relishes that role?
“I’m not really sure if I like the role of being the underdog, but I’ve been the underdog my whole career so I’m kind of used to it. As far as John Cholish is concerned, I view him as one of my toughest fights to date, mainly because any fight that I have is my toughest fight. For someone who doesn’t get a lot of respect from the UFC, a loss could be detrimental to my career, especially to an unnamed guy like Cholish.”
How do you prepare for, as you said, a relatively unknown guy like Cholish?
“I know he’s a tough dude; he’s a solid wrestler, he comes from a great Jiu-Jitsu background, he’s got great foot work, and his striking doesn’t seem to be that bad. Losing to him would be horrible for my career, so I view it as a really tough fight. I’ve only got footage of two of his fights; one of his fights was two years ago. It seems like young fighters have huge changes in their careers from month to month because they’re still learning and improving. From his fight against Marc Stevens to his last fight in the UFC, I’ve just seen a huge improvement in him. I’m sure the pressure’s on him to step his game up, so I guarantee he’s been training like this is the toughest fight of his career, which it will be.”
Without revealing too much, how do you see this fight going down?
“I’ve been working a lot on my stand up. I got booed for wrestling in my last fight, so I’d like to repay the fans with a standup fight and sit there and bang with this kid. I think it might be one of his holes in his game. I don’t think he has a lot of power and I think I got a lot of power. I don’t see any knockouts on his record and I have a few knockouts in my career, so I’d like to stand with him. How I see the fight going is [Cholish] attacking my legs for fifteen minutes and me stuffing the takedowns, you know, just sprawlin’ and brawlin’.”
Granted you are successful, are there any specific opponents at 155 that you’d like to face next?
“There’s no one in particular that I’d like to face, but I’ve got four losses to UFC opponents, and two of them are in the top ten. I’d like to have those losses back; a lot of those losses were earlier in my career and I feel like I’m a completely different fighter. I know my identity, so getting those fights against those opponents I lost to would be good for me. That would be a fight that I’d be fired up for, but as far as I’m concerned, any fight that pushes me up the lightweight division is a fight that I want.”
Being one of the select guys brought over from the WEC, do you feel any additional pressure going into a fight, like you have something to prove on behalf of the promotion that you built your name upon?
“I can’t speak for the rest of the guys, but for me there was a lot of pressure. My first fight was against one of the UFC vets in Joe Stevenson. Fighting a tough veteran that I had been watching before I even thought about getting in the cage was really tough for me. Not only being my first fight in the UFC and all that pressure mounting up, but fighting a tough veteran like [Joe], the pressure was really high. But I was able to pull out the victory against a really tough dude, so I was happy with that and I’m happy with the way that my career has gone so far in the UFC.”
Dana White has been adamant in the past about the willingness of teammates to fight one another. Guys like Jon Fitch, however, have repeatedly stated that they would rather retire than fight a teammate. Where do you stand on this issue?
“Fortunately, in team Alpha Male there’s only a couple lightweights, and none of them are in the UFC, so I don’t have to really worry about that. I have some training partners that I’m good friends with, like Nate Diaz, and I don’t see myself fighting them. I know the hot topic is ‘teammates should be able to fight teammates,’ and Dana White hates when teammates don’t fight each other, but I view my friendship with Nate and his brother and everyone at Cesar Gracie’s, you know, I value that friendship more than a few thousand dollars.”
While we’re discussing some of the current hotbed issues in MMA, what are your thoughts on the TRT controversy that has seemed to divide fans and fighters alike?
“I think it’s terrible. I’ve never cheated at anything in my life, sports-wise at least, and I don’t see myself doing that. I’m 32 years old, I know a lot of guys that are doing HGH and testosterone, it seems like everyone in the sport is doing something. I’m just not that guy. I’ve been able to train my butt off and get great results in terms of being strong and not having to use performance enhancing drugs. I’m totally against it. I think random testing for steroids would be the way to go and I’m all for it. You can test me year round and I have nothing to worry about, and I think that’s how the fighters I fight against should be as well. It’s only fair.”
You hold a victory over Dustin Poirier, who could be looking at a future title shot at 145 is he is able to defeat Chan Sung Jung. How would you asses the current featherweight landscape and who do you think presents the biggest challenge to Jose Aldo?
“Dustin Poirier is a tough, young, hungry kid. I fought him earlier in his career; it’s a big win and I’m happy to have it. I would say I’m friends with Dustin after the fight. My girlfriend and his wife are friends as well, so I like the kid and I know how hungry he is. As far as him getting a title shot, I think it’s deserved, but in terms of anyone that can beat Jose Aldo; the only person in the world that can beat Jose Aldo is Chad Mendes. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t really get to see the fight play out; Chad was taking him down, he grabbed the fence, and right after that Chad got knocked out. I think that takedown could have changed the whole dynamic of the fight, but we’ll never really know. I think Chad’s the number two dude at featherweight, and the number three, four, and five guys, not sure who those guys are, but I think Chad’s light-years ahead of them and he’ll just smash anyone of those dudes.”
Thanks for the interview opportunity.
“Thanks for having me. After I beat this dude up, I’d definitely like to come on again.”
Make sure to swing by CagePotato this Saturday, as yours truly will be liveblogging all the UFC on FOX 3 action, starting at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT.
Fightville debuts this Friday in select theaters (NY/LA), video-on-demand (Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable), and digital download (iTunes, Xbox, VUDU).
Fightville debuts this Friday in select theaters (NY/LA), video-on-demand (Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable), and digital download (iTunes, Xbox, VUDU).
If you ask a movie reviewer what sets great movies apart from good ones, many would tell you that great movies are the ones that manage to transcend their premises. The Rocky series wasn’t about boxing; it was a story of an underdog who succeeded through hard work and determination in the face of impossible odds. Fight Club wasn’t about dudes beating each other up in basements; it was a dirge for our lost masculinity and the rise of anonymous consumerism.
And the new MMA documentary Fightville isn’t about the fighting; it’s about the struggle.
Directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker — who have previously collaborated on four other full-length features, including the Iraq war documentary Gunner Palace — Fightville is a gritty and thought-provoking glimpse into the human condition that should appeal to fight fans as well as fans of good filmmaking. Simply put, it’s the best MMA documentary since The Smashing Machine.
If you ask a movie reviewer what sets great movies apart from good ones, many would tell you that great movies are the ones that manage to transcend their premises. The Rocky series wasn’t about boxing; it was a story of an underdog who succeeded through hard work and determination in the face of impossible odds. Fight Club wasn’t about dudes beating each other up in basements; it was a dirge for our lost masculinity and the rise of anonymous consumerism.
And the new MMA documentary Fightville isn’t about the fighting; it’s about the struggle.
Directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker — who have previously collaborated on four other full-length features, including the Iraq war documentary Gunner Palace — Fightville is a gritty and thought-provoking glimpse into the human condition that should appeal to fight fans as well as fans of good filmmaking. Simply put, it’s the best MMA documentary since The Smashing Machine.
Fightville has been drawing buzz since last year’s SXSW film festival, and is set to release on April 20th in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles, as well as on VOD and iTunes. The film centers on Tim Credeur’s Gladiators Academy and the nondescript dirt-floor rodeo arenas in Lafayette, Louisiana, but it could just have easily taken place in Anytown, USA, where similar dramas are being played out in countless MMA gyms and regional promotions.
Filmed three years ago, prior to Credeur’s star pupil Dustin Poirier’s Octagon debut and ascension up the UFC featherweight ranks, the story shows the contrast between Poirier’s traversal up a rocky and winding path to his goal of signing with the UFC, and his teammate Albert Stainback’s attempts to find the amount of dedication necessary to make it as a fighter. Giving Mickey Goldmill a run for his money, Credeur is a genuine mentor to the pair, offering equal parts encouragement, advice and tough love as necessary.
A pair of training scenes perfectly captures Credeur’s carrot-and-stick coaching method, as well as his two students’ difference in commitment-level. With Poirier, Credeur takes a gentle and encouraging approach to sparring, recognizing that Dustin has been preparing dutifully for an upcoming bout. Meanwhile, Stainback — who had been MIA for most of his training camp for his fight on the same card — is rewarded with a full-on ass-whooping by a few of Credeur’s star pupils, who are ordered to “green-light” Stainback for his lack of discipline.
Although we’ve seen Poirier go a perfect 4-0 in the UFC since the film was shot — with his first UFC headlining appearance opposite Chan Sung Jung scheduled for May 15th — I still felt let down when the movie was over, because I wanted to see it all play out on screen. In filmmaking circles, I believe this is what’s known as “setting up the sequel.”
